Baptiste Chouzenoux

Baptiste Chouzenoux retired in June 2026, aged 32, after a series of concussions. He is still listed in Bayonne‘s squad data. This profile is kept as a record of his career rather than a preview of a season he will not play.

He was born in Bayonne, is from Villefranque a few kilometres away, started playing there, and did the whole of his development at the club. He made his professional debut for them in 2014.

He was a flanker, 2.00m and 107kg — unusually tall for the back row, which made him a lineout option as well as a defender.

When Bayonne went down to Pro D2 at the end of 2016-17 he signed a three-year deal with Racing 92. That is where the one big occasion of his career came: the 2018 European Cup final, lost to Leinster. In November 2017 the French Barbarians picked him to face the New Zealand Māori in Bordeaux, and the Baa-Baas won 19-15.

He came home in the summer of 2024 on a three-year contract. He did not see it out.

Bayonne had gone up again by then and were establishing themselves in the top flight, and a home-grown back-rower who had played a European final was exactly the sort of signing a promoted club wants. He was 30 when he came back and had two seasons of it.

Head injuries end more careers in this sport than any single thing, and they rarely end them cleanly — there is no final match anyone knows is the final match at the time. Chouzenoux got twelve seasons, a European final, a Barbarians cap and a return to the club he came from. Plenty of players who stay fit get less than that.